UJ students protest against tuition fee hikes

AMMAN — Around 100 University of Jordan (UJ) students held a protest on Tuesday to urge the administration to reverse a decision to raise fees for the parallel, international and postgraduate studies programmes.

The National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights “Thabahtoona”, which organised the sit-in, said the raise in tuition fees “exceeds 200 per cent of the actual fees”, charging that the decision "disregards" students’ rights to higher education.

UJ President Ekhleif Tarawneh said the decision to raise tuition fees does not apply to students who are already enrolled at university, noting that it affects those who registered at the start of this academic year. 

A UJ statement quoted Tarawneh as saying that the hike will only cover the cost of the actual tuition.

Citing a study, Tarawneh said the education of one undergraduate student in the regular programme costs the university JD2,272 annually, of which the student only pays JD1,128 in fees, while the university covers the remainder.

In total, undergraduate education costs amount to JD20.5 million annually, he noted, adding that the university resorted to raising fees to improve its financial situation.

“The university has been working since last year to study a number of scenarios and alternative approaches other than raising fees by appealing to the government and the private sector, but to no avail,” Zakaria Ghoul, head of UJ's media department, told The Jordan Times in a phone interview.

“Eighty-three per cent of the students are enrolled in the regular programme and will not be affected by the raise in tuition fees,” he added.

Over 30,000 undergraduate students are enrolled at UJ, while there are around 4,000 postgraduate students.